Arnprior signs lease to stay in Rochester and expand

A Rochester company that spun off from Eastman Kodak Co. in 2008 plans to expand and add new jobs, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will announce Sunday.

(Photo: Graphics)

In the news release, Cuomo said the company considered moves to Tennessee and Connecticut but choose to stay in Rochester. It will retain its 150 jobs, add 35 positions and invest $3.7 million in new technology and equipment.

The company will receive up to $600,000 in state tax breaks if it meets the job-creation goals, the state said.

"Arnprior believes that the Greater Rochester Region has all the attributes necessary for a manufacturing concern to flourish in the current global landscape," the company's general manager, Chris Howell, said in a statement from Cuomo's office.

Howell said the area's "entrepreneurial culture, skilled workforce and world-class universities" were among the reasons the company didn't move.

It's the latest announcement by the state at the Eastman Business Park, once part of the sprawling Eastman Kodak campus. The iconic Rochester-based Kodak emerged from bankruptcy last fall.

The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council has named growth of the park as one of the key initiatives for the area. Cuomo said in the statement that the park is on track to create 1,800 jobs over the next five years.

On Thursday, Cuomo was at the park to announce $3 million in state aid to help fund a $25 million Bioscience Manufacturing Center, where companies are working to develop sugars into fuel. The center might create up to 600 jobs.

Last November, Naturally Scientific announced it would have up to 170 jobs by 2018 as part of the effort.

Cuomo said Rochester is becoming a leader in the field of advanced manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs in upstate New York have been on the wane for decades.

"For New York state, job one is jobs -- especially when it comes to expanding economic opportunities upstate," Cuomo said in a statement.

Arnprior works in the aerospace, automotive and defense sectors on the manufacturing of metal and plastic components for equipment.

When the company was formed in 2008, Eastman Kodak accounted for 96 percent of its business. Now, 82 percent of its business comes from other companies, the state said.

Arnprior Rapid is owned by American Industrial Acquisition Corp., an asset-management firm based in Greenwich, Conn.